Membership

To join, print the application and return it with your check to
the address printed on the application. Membership is only $15 to
addresses in the U.S., $20 for First Class mail, and $25 elsewhere.
For those without web access, write to:

Among our recent subscribers are Mark
Schlepphorst, Andrew Crellin and Daniel Ackermann. Welcome aboard! We now
have 1,146 subscribers.

This week we open with word of a new
numismatic literature fixed price list and discussion of the E-Sylum
editorial policy (we do have one, sort of). Next up are several new
numismatic books on topics including U.S. Civil War store cards, Mexican
and World coins, and Canadian historical medals.

In topics
continued from prior weeks we discuss author Daniel Valentine,
collector/singer Frankie Laine, and how to remove price stickers from
numismatic literature.

In the news, the ANS moves its colossal
numismatic collection crosstown, an important gold medal turns up in a
flea market find and blind people plan to march to the unveiling of the
Louis Braille commemorative design.

To learn about the three-sided
Siberian Hobo nickel (and two more numismatic tattoos), read on. Have a
great week, everyone.

David Fanning forwarded this release about his latest fixed
price list, The Basement

David F. Fanning Numismatic
Literature announces that we have just published a fixed price list of
inexpensive numismatic literature, The Basement. Here you can find
books, periodicals and auction catalogues that, as useful as they may be,
are neither rare nor expensive: and that the economics of cataloguing
preclude from presentation in our more formal catalogues. Cataloguing for
these items has been kept to a minimum, as have the prices.

A
brief perusal of the list should indicate that it includes many
significant tiles. Included are long runs of Bowers, Katen, Kolbe, Merkin,
Stack's and many other auction catalogues, as well as books and
periodicals: over 800 items in all. This is a great opportunity to fill
holes in your library at very reasonable prices.

The Basement is
available through our Web site: www.fanningbooks.com.
Our Web site also includes information on our upcoming auction and our
fixed price lists of rare and out-of-print material. If you have any
questions or comments, please contact David Fanning at dfanning@columbus.rr.com or
(614) 754-1069.

Charles Davis writes: "I for one am disappointed with the
editor’s airing of largely personal laundry in the pages of the E-Sylum. I
think several of the recent letters have crossed the line as to what the
content of the weekly newsletter should be. Little of it has to do with
bibliomania, and if the editor sees fit to continue to publish this line
of content, I would recommend that NBS no longer associate itself with it.
Let the E-Sylum and the Asylum have their purposes, and let the tabloids
cover the balance."

Charlie's submission hit my inbox late Tuesday evening. By
that time I'd processed some forty-five emails from readers, none of whom
expressed disappointment with Sunday's or any other recent issue. One
reader wrote: "Wow, some of the most interesting and revealing numismatic
reading I've seen in decades! You have simply outdone yourself as
Editor."

Did I pause before publishing some obviously controversial
material? You bet. But I don't let it pass unedited or unaccompanied by
editorial comment. Some of the scraps that have landed on the E-Sylum
cutting room floor over the years would curl your hair. But luckily, the
vast majority of submissions are benign and require only minimal
editing.

Do I believe everything I publish? Heck no - I don't
believe everything I read or hear, and neither should my readers. Proof of
decades-ago deeds, thoughts and motivations is hard enough to come by when
the participants are alive, and for all practical purposes impossible when
the participants are dead.

So why publish at all? There are many
reasons, but foremost is the firm belief that readers have a desire and
right to be informed and are quite capable of deciding on their own who
and what to believe - the Jeffersonian vision of a well-informed
populace.

Literature dealer John Burns called Friday to add his
voice against some of the recent topics. On the other hand, two other
readers asked for more information from authors of the controversial
submissions. Clearly there are multiple views among our
readership.

Numismatic information is what this newsletter is all
about. Numismatic literature is one embodiment of that information, but
it's not the only one (it just gets top billing). We bibliophiles aren’t
merely book lovers, we're info-maniacs. If it concerns numismatic science,
numismatic history, numismatic personalities or anything else with a
connection to numismatics, we'd like to know. What people today are saying
and thinking about numismatic personalities is important and often
fascinating information. And that's what makes our little forum so
fun.

As long as editing this newsletter continues to be fun, I'll
gladly keep it up. But don't take any of this to imply that The E-Sylum is
soliciting controversial content. Having it land in my lap is interesting,
but rarely fun. Charlie's point is valid. We may have different opinions
on where to draw the line, but we agree that a line exists. -Editor

Donald Erlenkotter submitted this discussion of John
Ostendorf's new book on Civil War Store Cards of Cincinnati. -Editor

Ostendorf, John, Civil War Store Cards of
Cincinnati, The Civil War Token Society, 2007, pp. 384 [available from
Lulu.com for $35 in hardcover and $25.53 in soft cover, and from the
Society in hardcover for $35 postpaid to members]

During the Civil
War, Cincinnati was a major center for the production of store card tokens
issued by merchants ranging from New York to Kansas and Minnesota to
Alabama. Many of the issuers of tokens produced by Cincinnati die sinkers
were rather arbitrarily assigned to that city in catalogs for lack of
better information. This has been a long-standing source of confusion to
collectors. In his new book, John Ostendorf seeks to identify which of
more than 200 issuers previously assigned to Cincinnati actually belong to
that city, and which belong elsewhere. He also adds some tokens to the
Civil War period, and deletes some others.

This book provides a
wealth of information on the tokens, their issuers, and the die sinkers
and engravers who produced them. City directories are a major source of
information, along with census listings, local histories, newspapers, and
previously published research. Many ads from the Civil War period are
reproduced in the book, and they provide the reader with the true spirit
of the times.

One won’t find beautiful pictures of tokens here,
since individual tokens are covered well in the second edition of U.S.
Civil War Store Cards by George and Melvin Fuld. The only token
illustrations included, in full color, are on the front and back covers.
They display store cards from the two major Cincinnati token producers,
William K. Lanphear and John Stanton. These two men also are the only
members of the Civil War Token Society’s Hall of Fame who actually
produced tokens.

One might well describe this book as a collection
of some 200 mystery stories. Many have been solved, while others remain as
a challenge for future researchers. Ostendorf has provided a model for
them to follow in doing further studies of this type.

Disclosure: I
chaired the Civil War Token Society committee that oversaw the production
of this book, and made some contributions to it as described in the
acknowledgements by the author. He will receive the Jack Detwiler Research
Award from the Society this summer for his work on the book.

This book consists on an investigation on the coins minted
for circulation in Mexico from 1905 to 2007 (without considering the
revolutionary and the commemorative coins). In the first part of the book
are presented each type of coin with a big picture for their clear
identification and the description of the obverse, reverse, edge,
composition, diameter, weight and the Mint where the coin was minted.

Mexico only uses the Mo mintmark, however the coins has been
coined in three different places from 1905 (without considering the
revolutionary stage) Apartado, Legaria and San Luis Potosi. In this book
you will know where the coins were minted and in which years two or even
the three plants minted one type coin. For example in 1989 the three
plants minted the 20 pesos coin.

Next most of the major Mexican
varieties are described (as the 1981/1982 20 cents coin with single ear
and with doubled ear) and also many interesting minor varieties, as famous
die chips (warts on nose, cold nose, pearl on the forehead, etc.). The
variety coins are presented with photo, a brief description and the
estimated prices in three types of conditions. Inserted between the
variety coins are presented diverse articles about the description of
certain classes of varieties, errors, for the first time is present an
study of hiding initials in Mexican coins made by some engravers, and
other articles of interest. In this chapter you will find doubled dies,
small and large letters varieties, different numbers of thorns in the
nopal varieties, large over/small letters varieties, hidden initials
varieties, mules, rotated dies, die breaks, die chips, cuds, varieties
with and without points, different mintmark varieties, snakes with and
without tongue, thin and thick date varieties, etc.

At the second
part of the book are present diverse errors coins (wrong planchets,
clipped coins, indents, brockages, multiple strikes, offcenters, etc.)
with their prices.

This book is the first one that describes most
of the modern Mexican numismatic errors and varieties (some called the
Mexican Cherrypickers’ book), have more than 3000 photos of many Mexican
variety coins, most of them for the first time reported.

Krause Publications has announced the release of the 3rd
edition of the Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date. -Editor.

It's finally here! This week we got the first
sample copies back from the printer of KP books newest numismatic volume,
the 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date 3rd edition. This
youngest of the SCWC Century volumes is up over 430+ pages now and has
quickly become the mainstay of the modern issue coin collector.

New dates on existing types, new circulation coins, brand new
commemorative issues and lot's of price changes give this new edition
solid value for the enthusiast. I was very pleased with the work we were
able to put into this volume, with the market as hot as it is we still
managed to get the gold and silver coin values in line, while adding in
nearly 50 pages of new coinage. That's about a 12.5% increase in data,
plus we continued this years SCWC big bonus of an added DVD of the entire
catalog, so you can now have the Standard Catalog available on your home
computer or laptop in a digital form for quick searching to augment the
traditional paper catalog.

Tom Michael of Krause Publications reminds readers of a
discount offer on the new SCWC. -Editor

The Standard Catalog of
World Coins 2001-Date 3rd edition was just released last week and I am
running a special for my blog readers on Big Ideas, Little World: http://www.numismaticnews.net/ideas/

It's
a 20% discount off cover price and this year's edition also includes a
DVD. You can find all the details, including the coupon code at Big Ideas,
Little World.

Paul Petch submitted this capsule
review of the new Charleton Press book on Canadian Historical Medals.

I live in Toronto, fairly close to Charleton Press, and
volume II made it to me on the morning of June 12. It is a mammoth work
that has grown to a total of 720 pages and is certainly far more ambitious
than volume I, which appeared (by my memory at least) seven years ago. I
spoke with the author/publisher, W. K. Cross, several years ago and
encouraged him to ignore requests to rush it out and really go for
completeness and quality -- and that is what has happened. I suggest
interested readers should contact the publisher ASAP because it has a
limited run of 250 copies

Al Roy published a nice article in the June 2008 issue of
The CN Journal, the official publication of the Canadian Numismatic
Association. It's about Alfred Sanham and his pioneering 1869 catalog of
Canadian tokens. With permission, here are some excerpts. -Editor

Alfred Sandham was born in Griffintown
(Montreal) in 1838. After spending two years in New York, he worked for
the Montreal Telegraph Company, which was later absorbed by the Grand
Trunk Railroad. He then worked briefly with his father and brother as a
painter before becoming the General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A.

He
joined the Montreal Numismatic Society in 1865 and helped to incorporate
it as the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal. As the society's
secretary, he was involved in the first attempted Canadian numismatic work
in 1863 called Catalogue of the Silver and Copper Coins of Canada. It was
never completed.

A few years later, Sandham created the first
numismatic catalogue in Canada: Coins, Tokens, and Medals of the Dominion
of Canada. He wrote and illustrated the 72-page work himself. Fellow
Society member Daniel Rose printed it.

In 1992, a letter written
by Sandham was discovered. It gives insights into the printing of his
catalogue:

Of this work there were 300 copies printed but only 250
were bound. It was anything but a financial success. While it was offered
at the absurdly low price of 75 cents, only about 100 copies were disposed
of by sale. The remaining copies were given away to friends, societies and
the press. The sheets remained in the hands of Mr. Rose, printer for
nearly three years when they were thrown out as waste paper, by my orders.

He also discusses the methods used to create the printing
blocks from his illustrations. Usually books of this period were sold in
wrappers; the owner would then have it bound to match the rest of his
library. But Sandham had his book bound in blue cloth.

Before the
Catalogue of the Silver and Copper Coins of Canada was published, ancient
and classical coin collecting was de rigueur in this country. We can thank
Alfred Sandham for helping to make our hobby what it is today.

DAVID SKLOW - FINE NUMISMATIC BOOKS now
accepting consignments for our October 4th mail bid auction. Consignments
in hand include an original Crosby Early Coins of Americanumismaticbooks@aol.com (719)
302-5686, visit our web site www.finenumismaticbooks.com

As a part of working on a special project for the upcoming
Memphis Paper Money show, I stumbled onto a bindery firm that has been in
the same family for three generations. H.V. Chapman & Sons owns and
still operates much of the old hand-operated equipment they've had since
the 1940s, with some of the equipment itself dating back to the 1900s. One
of the things they also do is restore, repair or replace bindings on
individual antique books.

What impressed me is that Stan Chapman,
the owner, told me that they have a three-month backlog of individual
books to repair and that they do not do any advertising or promotion.
Apparently people who are aware of their skills pass their name along
word-of-mouth. After working with him on my little project, I can clearly
understand why folks don't mind it taking several months to get their book
repaired, as indeed they have a lot of pride in their work.

There
certainly may be other companies that repair book bindings. But if any
E-Sylum readers are in need of a service such as this, you might contact
this firm as well to see if they can help you. Their information is on the
following web site, where they also have an interesting video.

A number of readers forwarded an article from the New York
Times about the American Numismatic Society's hush-hush move of their
collection to their new headquarters 22 blocks away in Manhattan this past
Saturday.

They didn’t exactly hire two guys with a truck to secretly
move one of the world’s largest and most valuable coin collections over
the weekend in Manhattan. But they did use five standard-issue moving
vans.

No armored-car convoys. No helicopter gunships.
No National Guard outriders flourishing automatic weapons. Just sweaty
movers, in blue shirts with their names stitched at the front, schlepping
425 plastic packing crates that were filled with treasures trussed in
humble bubble wrap and garden-variety vinyl packing tape.

Yes, the
New York Police Department provided an escort, but during more than eight
hours on Saturday, one of the great hoards of coins and currency on the
planet, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was utterly unalarmed as it
was bumped through potholes, squeezed by double-parked cars and slowed by
tunnel-bound traffic during the trip to its fortresslike new vault a mile
to the north.

“The idea was to make this as inconspicuous as
possible,” said Ute Wartenberg Kagan, executive director of the American
Numismatic Society. “It had to resemble a totally ordinary office move.”

The collection of 800,000 coins, bank notes, medals, commemorative
badges, pins, historic advertising tokens, campaign buttons and other
artifacts has been amassed during the 150-year existence of the nonprofit
society.

The society’s holdings rival the
comprehensiveness and rarity of those in the Smithsonian Institution and
comprise “one of the world’s great collections, the equivalent of those in
Berlin, Paris and the British Museum,” said Christopher S. Lightfoot, an
associate curator in the department of Greek and Roman art at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Of the collection’s value, Dr.
Wartenberg Kagan said, “It is priceless because it has so many unique
pieces,” adding with deliberate vagueness that experts had valued it in
the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It’s our first coin
collection,” said a New York police detective, Gregory Welch, of Emergency
Service Unit Truck One, which shadowed the move with hidden heavy weapons
“just in case,” along with patrol cars from the First Precinct. He said
his unit was accustomed to protecting Federal Reserve gold transfers and
gem shipments in the Midtown diamond district.

“Our collection is
amazing, and much of it has not been on view,” Dr. Wartenberg Kagan said.
The first exhibition, celebrating the society’s 150th anniversary, is to
open in October.

Finally, after the massive doors and gates of the
vault slammed shut, Dr. Wartenberg Kagan expressed gratitude to the police
and the heroic efforts of her staff, and gave the order for the alarm to
be armed. “To say I’m relieved,” she said after the lockdown, “is putting
it mildly.”

Jim Hughes correctly identified curator Bob Hoge in the
foreground of the second photo. It reminds me of the couple times I moved
my own collection from bank to bank. One time my bank in downtown
Pittsburgh sold its building and closed its classic old-style safe deposit
vault, replete with bomb-shelter size vault doors. I found a box to rent
in another bank several blocks away. At lunchtime one day I asked a
colleague to accompany me for a walk; I loaded up two briefcases and we
strolled through the crowds to the other bank. When I moved from
Pittsburgh to Virginia I loaded the collection into moving boxes just as
the ANS did and brought them down in my car unaccompanied - security by
anonymity. Another blogger wrote on the topic of "security through
obscurity", citing both everyday and high-profile moves of merchandise in
the diamond industry. -Editor

THE JOB BAZARRE

CATALOGER NEEDED: If you have an
extensive library covering U.S. coinage and would like to be a remote
cataloger for Heritage, contact Mark Van Winkle at Mark@ha.com or Carolyn Hall at CarolynH@HA.com.

Steve Tompkins writes: "In response to Jerry
Fochtman about Dr. Daniel W. Valentine: I believe an article about
Valentine was published in the Gobrecht Journal #101 by Stephen Crain.
Steve is a Half-Dime enthusiast and a collector of Valentine information.
If anyone has a picture or knows where one might be of Dr. Valentine it
would be Steve. The New York Numismatic Club medal of Dr. Valentine was
illustrated with the article, perhaps the club would have a picture in
their archives."

Gene Hessler writes: "In reference to Frankie Laine, I worked
with him on numerous occasions when I was working as a musician. In 1950
when we worked together for the first time I had no idea that he was
interested in numismatics, essentially because the numismatic bug did not
bite me until a few years later."

The S&S piece was not
worth 120 shillings English, but 120 shillings Scots; at the 12-to-1 ratio
that applied at the time, that equated to 10 shillings English, or only
half a pound, not six pounds. Still a lot of money, but not quite as much
as the article would have us believe.

The lower valued pound north
of the border also explains some of the odd denominations that existed in
Scotland - the Scottish 60 and 30 shillings denominations look strange
until you realise that they equated to a crown and a half-crown in
England, respectively. Also the Scottish "pistole" or 12-pound piece:
since that equated to one pound south of the border in the recently
unified kingdoms, you can see the merger process starting to take place.
It wasn't entirely consistent, of course, as the Scots still kept their
"merks" (13s 4d), or slightly more than an English shilling, and the
humble two pence, or 1/6 of an English penny. The matching denominations
between about 1600 and 1700 are fun to spot, all the same.

I'm looking for advice on how to safely remove price
sticker residue from a hard-bound book.

A number of E-Sylum
readers chimed in with useful advice. Here's what they had to
say:

Anne E. Bentley of the Massachusetts Historical Society
writes:

Usually a rubber cement pick up eraser works for
me--available at any art supply store. The trick is to gently circle the
eraser around on the adhesive to allow the eraser to gradually roll up the
excess into a ball, which you then manually pluck off of the eraser. Takes
a steady, gentle hand and patience, but it is the least destructive
mechanical means possible.

James Higby writes:

For most situations I use paint thinner (NOT lacquer
thinner or acetone), available by the quart at hardware stores. I also
have a little can of solvent specifically sold for sticker residue
removal, also available in hardware stores. The only problem is that, the
longer the sticker has been in place, the more it will resist removal.

Steve Tompkins writes:

To remove a sticker with adhesive residue from a book,
the easiest way I know of is to heat the glue enough to destroy the bond.
Using a hand held hair dryer works very well (who knew something of the
wife's could be used for something Bibliomatical?! - I'm not sure if that
is a word or not, but it sure sounds cool!)

Anyway, after the
sticker is peeled off any glue residue can usually be removed by taking
the sticky side of the sticker and pushing it back down and quickly
pulling it back off. Care must be taken if this is being done on a
non-slick surface such as normal paper or cardboard as you may rip some of
a layer along with the residue.

If the removed sticker is from a
slick finish, on say a dust jacket, then any residue can be removed using
a small portion of paint thinner on a soft cloth (again using care). These
techniques take practice and I have been removing labels from boxes as
part of my business for many years.

Paul Petch writes:

I have had very good luck removing the kind of glue found
as the backing on stickers with nail polish remover, which is actually
acetone or acetonitrile. It works best of course on materials that will
not absorb the liquid. I use a cotton swab on the glue and this causes the
glue to "pill" so it can be easily picked off. I then use a second swab
with water for clean up. The nice thing about using nail polish remover is
that most guys will find it is already somewhere in the house... if you
just ask the right people.

Pete Smith writes:

Last week I was annoyed by the build-up of gummy residue
on a pair of scissors I was using to cut packing tape. I took the scissors
outside, sprayed the blades with WD-40 and wiped off the gunk with a paper
towel. At a former employer, we used a little WD-40 on a paper towel to
remove glue residue from old price stickers on coin slabs. I suspect that
WD-40 might remove price sticker glue from books. I also suspect that
WD-40 might remove the ink or color on the binding of a book. Removing the
glue might do more harm than good. I suggest anyone attempting to use
WD-40 on a book should test it first on something that is not valuable.

Harry Cabluck writes:

A few squirts of Pam onto a corner of a paper towel and
then applied to the sticker loosens it enough for removal. And then more
application of the soaked paper towel will help remove the adhesive.
Sometimes a few squirts of WD-40 on the corner of a paper towel works as
well.

Chick Ambrass writes:

Being in the "retail" trade for the last 40 years...it
often occurs, that you have to replace the price sticker on an item for
sale....whether the product is paper, plastic, or cloth.... what ever you
do, you want the product to remain looking new and attractive.... the
staple product to use (and I have been using it for close to 40 years, and
used it just a few weeks ago....) is LIGHTER FLUID, it contains Naphtha, a
petroleum distillate and just a few drops, applied to the sticker,
saturates the paper, and allows easy removal of all of the paper and the
majority of the adhesive...a few more drops, along with a tissue, or paper
towel will remove the remainder of the adhesive....granted, I have never
used it on an expensive, collectible book cover....but I would guess, used
judiciously, you won't have any problem.

Kerry Rodgers of
New Zealand writes:

I was taught the answer by a Dinkum Aussie Librarian of
the female persuasion - who worked with rare books. I assume the cover has
a gloss of some sort and is therefore not too porous. If it does not then
experiment on some similar but expendable surface. Get yerself some
eucalyptus oil. Touch some to a tissue or, better, a soft cloth. Keep the
amount minimal. Gently rub the glue. 99.9% of glues dissolve quickly and
easily. As soon as the glue has gone, wipe off any excess oil + glue
quickly.

And it smells good too! Happy sniffing.

Bob
Neale writes:

I should think that using a little hydrocarbon solvent,
like paint thinner, would work, even isopropyl alcohol, without damaging
the cover. I do this to remove adhesive remnants from photos after
mounting them. Use a Q-tip at first, just to be sure no color comes up.

George M. Vanca of Santa Clarita, CA writes:

I have several suggestions that are tried and true...
Liquid Lighter Fluid is effective in removing stickers, glue residue,
etc., from dust jackets. I have actually seen rare book dealers using
lighter fluid in their booths at Antiquarian Book Fairs.

My wife is
a Registered Nurse and saw my frustration at removing stickers from
paperback books, and suggested I use an adhesive remover (in packet form),
similar to what she uses at the hospital to remove surgical tape from
patients. I have personally found this to be the most effective and am
thoroughly satisfied with the results. No more frustrating endings to
those exciting numismatic literature finds!!!

In the "on the
other hand" department, Jørgen Sømod writes:

Will you remove a hundred year old price sticker from a
hundred year old book? Your new book will also be an old book. It takes
some time and a coming owner will love that old sticker. Never remove
anything.

With the Midwest floods hitting the news, Kerry Rodgers
submitted the following, which might be of interest to some bibliomaniacs.
-Editor

I touched base with Greg Lambousy at the New Orleans Mint
Museum this week. I enquired about First Aid measures a collector might
take in the event of a deluge affecting their collection or library -
before they call in the experts. I was concerned as much about the things
not to do as the things to do. Greg is right up with the play following
the Mint Museum's experience with Katrina.

Greg as it turns out is
part of the AIC-Collections Emergency Response Team and expects to be
called out to Cedar Rapids this coming week. As such he is a bit pressed
for time. He suggests that in the first instance collectors may like to
refer to the link of the Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
Committee of the American Institute for Conservation:
http://aic.stanford.edu/committee/committees_taskforces/emergency/

He suggested anyone interested can follow the links to find
information on recovery of water damaged objects. Could be worth
squirreling this info away for a rainy day!

So far I have poked
around in >Public Info >Caring for your treasures > and then
>Books and then >Documents. And note that at the bottom of the
"Caring for your treasures" page is a link to books to help you. It is a
start. Makes great and useful reading.

I have a personal interest
in this. I came home one evening to find my next door neighbour had been
using a high powered water blaster. The jet had penetrated under my back
door and doused a collection of historic checks! We'll ignore the state of
the carpet!

Steve Feller, ex-editor IBNS Journal reports his house
- and collection - and library - are above the flood in Cedar Rapids. His
college, however, has undergone total immersion!

Regarding our discussion sparked by the Carnegie Hero Medal
encased in Lucite, Robert Neale has this advice for anyone trying to
remove a coin or medal from a Lucite block. -Editor

Nail polish
remover is likely more methyl ethyl ketone than acetone (dimethyl ketone)
and less effective on Lucite (polymethylmethacrylate). For the nooks and
crannies, how about warming the acetone bath (in good ventilation; boiling
point is about 56 degrees C) or even using a jewelers ultrasound bath?

On a related note, Dick Johnson sends this correction. He
writes: "Hugo Greco was not the new Carnegie Hero medal's designer -- he
was the manufacturer."

The Alaskan Token collector newsletter reprinted a
fascinating article by Stephen P. Alpert. It was originally published by
the Original Hobo Nickel Society. With permission, I'm publishing some
excerpts here. The full article is available on the OHNS web site (see
link below). The title is " A Siberian 3-sided Hobo Nickel" -Editor

Sounds bizarre, doesn't it? But that is what I obtained from
an ebay auction just after our January 2004 OHNS meeting in Orlando.
Besides being a high-quality carving with attractive hand lettering on
both sides, and on the edge (that's the seldom-altered third side of a
hobo nickel, folks), the piece is just smothered and dripping with
history. And military history, no less. First, a description of this
totally-carved old hobo nickel. The obverse has the standard design
alteration - a bearded man wearing a derby. Here we have a nice plain
derby, with a pointy-ended wrap-around brim, no hat band, and a nice
smoothly-dressed large dome. A nice ear, with internal detail and an
earlobe, overlaps the hat brim. The hair-beard-mustache is beautifully
hand engraved. The eye is altered, as are the nose and lips.

There
is a simple collar with a jewel at front. The shoulder-coat area below
only has the date erased, and the small letters "H.C.A." engraved below. I
take this to be the signature initials of the artist. The obverse field is
smoothly dressed, with Liberty removed. Around the right is engraved the
name "KARASHAW" which I assume is someone's last name, possibly the person
depicted on the carving.

The reverse has the buffalo nicely altered into a donkey. All
the coin's wording has been removed, and the field nicely dressed for the
new hand-engraved legends: "BOLSHEVIKI" around the top, "1919" in front of
the donkey, and "10 KOPEKS" where Five Cents used to be.

It turns
out that this piece is from what is referred to as "America's Secret War"
when American forces intervened in the Russian Revolution. This was the
first and only time American troops operated on Russian soil. Below,
briefly, is the story of the U.S. Intervention in Siberia, 1918 to 1920,
gathered from the Internet (where you can find a whole lot more
information on this operation).

During the Russian Revolution,
Japan was about to send 7,000 soldiers to Vladivostok. In conjunction,
President Wilson also sent 5,000 to 7,000 (figures vary) U.S. soldiers, so
Japan wouldn't gain a stronghold there. The purpose of deploying US forces
there was threefold: 1) To guard the military supplies that we previously
sent there (600,000 tons of war material and about a billion dollars worth
of guns and equipment), that were just sitting around inadequately
guarded. 2) To secure the eastern end of the Trans Siberia Railway. 3) To
stabilize the area during the Russian Revolution.

So an American
Expeditionary Force (A.E.F. on the edge of the hobo nickel) was sent to
Siberia, comprised mostly of the U.S. Army's 27th and 31st Infantry
Regiments (31 INF. is on the edge of the hobo nickel).

One Aug. 16,
1918, 1590 US troops from the 27th Inf. Arrived in Vladivostok, followed
by 1421 troops from the 31st Inf. On Aug. 21. More arrived from the 8th
Inf. Div. later. The 31st Inf. operated in the area just north of
Vladivostok and in the small mining town of Suchan.

Note that the
inscribed edge of the hobo nickel begins with "HDQTS. CO." which may
indicate that the person who carved this hobo nickel worked in the
Headquarters or Headquarters Company of this unit.

This is the
best-documented or only U.S. "trench art" soldier-carved hobo nickel I
know of. It is also the only three-sided hobo nickel known to me. Thus it
is probably the most fascinating hobo nickel in my entire
collection.

I asked back in April but I do not believe we had a
response so I'll ask again: Is there a book or magazine or web site that
includes pictures of the Swiss shooting medals and talers subsequent to
1960?

1960 is the last date covered in the excellent "Die
Schützentaler und Schützenmedaillen der Schweiz" by Jürg Richter. Herr
Richter advised me that he plans an update in 2010.

Perhaps we can all relate our flea market finds, but when
one hears of such a spectacular find as this we tend to think "Why
couldn't it have been me!"

Indeed - a great story of a great
find. David Alexander of Stack's is quoted in the article. -Editor

Penny McKim is an antiques hobbyist who considers herself a skilled
treasure hunter. So when she came across a shoebox full of coins and
medals at a church flea market in Montgomery County, she had an idea she'd
struck gold.

Turns out that $5 box contained three ounces of gold
in the form of a distinctive medal presented in 1928 to Charles M. Schwab,
the man who built Bethlehem Steel into a world titan.

Exactly what
that treasure is worth remains in question and probably won't be known
until the day McKim sells her find. She's already heard from gold dealers
offering her $1,300 for the right to simply melt down the 14-karat-gold
medal and mine it for its gold value.

''Oh, good heavens, I hope
she doesn't allow that,'' said David Alexander, a medals expert with
Stack's, a New York auction house that specializes in rare coins and
medals. ''I'm quite sure this is a one-of-a-kind piece. It should not be
destroyed.''

The piece, a Bessemer Gold Medal, was awarded to
Schwab by the Iron and Steel Institute of London. Now the Institute of
Materials, Minerals and Mining, the trade group has been giving the medal
since 1874 to one person each year for outstanding services in the steel
industry, said Hilda Kaune, library coordinator at the London
institute.

The medal has also been presented to the likes of Queen
Victoria and King Edward VII.

On one side, the medal features a
raised profile of Sir Henry Bessemer, the British inventor who developed
an innovative process for making steel. The other side of the piece, which
resembles a large, thick coin and is more than 2 inches in diameter, has
Schwab's name and the year 1928.

Schwab's gold medal got into
McKim's hands when she bought the shoebox full of coins and medals three
weeks ago at a flea market at her church, the Cornerstone Family Church in
Limerick Township. It was part of a bunch of relatively worthless stuff
donated by church members who had probably cleaned out their garages or
attics.

McKim plans to meet with Alexander, who has thus far
examined only photos of the medal, to discuss an auction. And if she turns
that $5 investment into thousands of dollars?

''I'll make a large
donation to my church,'' McKim said. ''I like to sleep good at
night.''

Anthony Tumonis, an Arizona State Quarter Commission
Member, forwarded to following item about the recent launch ceremony for
the new coin. -Editor

It was a beautiful sunny day on June 2nd and
approximately 5,000 people were in attendance at the State Capital in
Phoenix, Arizona. The evening before, Edmund C. Moy addressed a lively
crowd for a Numismatic Forum at the historic Carnegie Center, in
conjunction with the release. However, this was the day of the official
release for the newest Arizona State Quarter.

Entertaining the
crowd while waiting for the Wells Fargo Stage Coach to deliver the new
Arizona State Quarters was the band Mariachi Aguila. After the Quarters
arrived, Radio personalities, Beth McDonald and Bill Austin of 99.9 FM KEZ
introduced the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers of Fort Huachuca
for the Presentation of Colors. The Pledge of Allegiance was then led by
Roberta Crowe, Chairwoman of the Arizona State Quarter Commission.

Afterwards United States Mint Director Edmund C. Moy presented
Governor Janet Napolitano with the original artwork for the Arizona State
Quarter. Governor Janet Napolitano addressed the audience highlighting the
events that took place from the formation of the Arizona State Quarter
Commission to the release of the Newest Quarter Dollar. She then
participated in handing out brand new state quarters to all the children
in the crowd. Later, people lined up to purchase rolls of the States
Quarters at face value, and the official Arizona State Quarter
Commemorative Coin Folio. The full color Coin Folios were die cut in the
outline of the State of Arizona and have a raised-relief Copper Foil
Cover. 22,988 regular folios were issued and sold for $10.00. A limited
edition numbered folio sold for $20.00, of which only 2,012 were produced.
All proceeds benefit the 2012 Arizona Centennial. For more information
please visit www.AZGOVERNOR.GOV/AZQUARTER.
The people in attendance had an opportunity to explore the Capital Museum
with two brand new exhibits. The Quarter Project, which detailed the
process of creating the Arizona State Quarter. And 1940 ARIZONA Movie
Scrip, which highlighted the currency used in the Columbia Pictures movie
ARIZONA starring Jean Arthur and William Holden.

A press release was published June 18 by the National
Federation of the Blind. Here are some excerpts. The new commemorative
coin is described carefully as the "First United States Coin with Tactile
Braille", to differentiate it from the Alabama Helen Keller state quarter,
which was the first U.S. coin to show an inscription in Braille (but
apparently not large enough or in high enough relief for the blind to
actually read it. -Editor.

Over one thousand blind Americans, their
friends and families, and other supporters will march from the Hilton
Anatole Hotel -- headquarters for the 2008 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind -- to AT&T Plaza at American Airlines Center,
where a special ceremony and rally will take place.

Highlights of
the rally will include addresses by NFB President Dr. Marc Maurer and
Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32), the honorary chairman of the March for
Independence. The rally will close with United States Mint Director Ed Moy
unveiling the design of a commemorative coin to be issued in 2009 by the
Mint in honor of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis
Braille.

United States Mint Director Ed Moy said, "The United
States Mint is proud to present the 2009 Louis Braille Commemorative
Silver Dollar coin design. It will be the first coin ever minted in the
history of the United States to contain legible Braille characters. I am
looking forward to presenting the design for this historic coin, and I am
pleased that the United States Mint is playing a role in the cause of
bringing literacy to all blind and visually impaired Americans."

In
2006, Congress passed and the President signed into law Public Law
109-247: The Louis Braille Bicentennial-Braille Literacy Commemorative
Coin Act. This legislation authorized the minting of a commemorative coin
in 2009 to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis
Braille.

If the Royal Canadian Mint has the record for the world's
largest gold coin, the Austrian Mint now claims the title for the world's
largest silver coin.

The world’s largest silver coin, the Europe
Taler 2008, was revealed at the 2008 European Championship of Football in
Austria and Switzerland and will soon be on display at the Hall of Tirol,
Austria.

Weighing in at 20.08kg with a diameter of 36cm, the coin
portrays important people from the last 500 years within its hexagonal
patterns resembling a football.

Historical imagery on the coin
includes: Martin Luther, for his translation of the bible in the 16th
century, symbolising the transformation of the Middle Ages to modern
times; Antonio Vivaldi, greatest composer of the 17th century and James
Watt, 18th century inventor of the first steam engine.

Nobel Peace
prize winner Bertha von Suttner is also featured on the coin for her
development on the civilisation of wars and introduction of pacifist
politics.

The
recent item about the British soldier who had the Victoria Cross medal
tattooed on his back inspired me to ask if anyone knew of anyone else with
a numismatic tattoo. We learned of one last week, and now here are two
more!

Max Spiegel writes: "I know someone (who I will allow to
remain anonymous) who has a tattoo of the obverse and reverse of an
Athenian tetradrachm. I thought that was awesome -- and a little crazy
too."

George Cuhaj reported that Greg Ruby of the Baltimore area
has a partial coin design tattoo: "The Saint-Gaudens Walking Liberty, but
not in a full circle."

I confirmed this with Greg, who writes:

George is telling the truth about my tattoo. I got the
St. Gaudens Walking Liberty design done on my right calf in early 1998,
shortly after returning from the FUN Show. I spent about three hours in
the chair having the artwork done. I can see myself becoming a sideshow
attraction for the upcoming Baltimore ANA Convention.

At $5 a peek, Greg could have a lucrative concession at the
convention! -Editor

I very selectively collect "love
tokens". That is, American coins spectacularly and skillfully hand
engraved with some unusual detailed scenic (i.e a racing locomotive ) or
historical inscription (i.e. this coin survived the San Francisco
earthquake). Not actually "love tokens" per se but engraved coins that
today are classified as "love tokens".

Over the years, to any
engraved coin fancier, it has become obvious that a preponderance of them
are missing their reverse soldered-on pins and clasps. How can this be,
for the vast majority once had solidly affixed pins and their value would
be significantly impaired when the original pin is missing?

Well,
I learned from an oldtime numismatist that "back in the days" collectors
and dealers used to snap off the pins so that the engraved coins would
comfortably fit into coin envelopes or lay flat in the then-shallow trays
of coin cabinets. No thought then was given to any possible impairment of
appeal or value. Just like waxing and burnishing and whizzing and dipping
and cleaning were once widely accepted practices in numismatics. And now
"original skin" - the natural "dirty" look - is in with such coins
bringing a premium. And so the wheel turns.

Coins, silver and spoons have a long intertwined history.
For several hundred years silver objects were simply another form of
wealth. A person who had amassed more silver coins than they needed, took
the coins to a silversmith who melted them down and made a usable object
out of them. If economic hardship ensued, the reverse procedure was used
and the silver objects were returned to coinage form.